Gelda stretched out, feeling her muscles burn pleasantly as her body gradually responded to the soft morning light. As she started to come properly to her senses, she felt a warm hand stroking her shoulder and she turned over to welcome the embrace of the man she loved. They clung together for several moments, Gelda feeling her heart fluttering in contentment as Zeldris kissed her neck languidly, taking his time to help her wake up. They had been living together for weeks, and their passion had grown a little each day as they had settled into a routine of quiet domesticity.
Gelda had been nervous at first, they had only ever really corresponded after all, who knew if they would find being together on a daily basis rewarding or difficult. But Zeldris was easy to live with. Always attentive and so hard working, surprisingly useful around the place in fact. Although sometimes the execution was a little sloppy. He was still learning how to run a household having never needed these skills before and Gelda dissolved into silent giggles as she recalled the first omelet he had attempted to make. It had been burned to a cinder, but with patient instruction his technique was improving. And he was so good at this Gelda thought as Zeldris claimed her lips with his and Gelda felt her body respond instantly to his caress.
"Come on," Zeldris murmured as her pulled away from her to reluctantly sit up on the bed. "We need to get to work."
"Already?" Gelda asked petulantly, stroking his chest, lightly tracing the lines of his muscles, relishing the way he shuddered slightly. "Can't we stay here a bit longer?"
"So tempting but no. It's our investiture today, we can hardly be late for that, or what comes afterwards."
In one fluid movement, Zeldris was out of bed and putting on the uniform which he'd hung over a chair the previous night, smoothing over the tunic embroidered with the crest of Versailles to remove the wrinkles. Gelda reluctantly followed, feeling the chill air freeze her body as she left the warmth of the covers and she quickly put her uniform on, wanting to be out of the cold as soon as possible. She helped Zeldris strap his sword round his waist and together they set off for the training grounds, walking close to each other. The French court had been entirely accepting of their relationship, and they had both felt relief that their love was finally out in the open.
Gelda had continued to train with Cusack once she and Zeldris had reached Versailles and her power was now at a high enough level for her to join the ranks of the city's Holy Knights. Her move, Flaming Death, was considered a strategic advantage as she could send it out to strike targets at a great distance, and more importantly in these times of peace it meant no one had to go through hassle of creating fire with flint and tinder. Gelda could set up a roaring blaze in a matter of seconds, much to the gratitude of her new comrades.
As Zeldris and Gelda approached the grounds they saw Cusack in conversation with two others and both pulled up short. These were not Holy Knights of Versailles and their presence was definitely not welcome.
"Looks like the honeymoon's over," Zeldris muttered as Gelda picked out the forms of Meliodas and Ren.
"What do they want?" she wondered, feeling a cold dread sliding over her chest. The discussion looked earnest and she knew it could not be good news.
"Us, back and in our rightful places I expect. Unless they've convinced Cusack though they can't make us leave so it may be alright."
The pair continued their approach. Zeldris scanned his brother's face carefully to see if he could tell the lie of the land, but of course he could not. Meliodas had that infuriating grin on his face which appeared to be a guide to his feelings but in reality said nothing at all.
Cusack turned towards them, a kind smile on his face but his eyes betraying his disappointment. "My two favourite pupils. The investiture's off I'm afraid," he said kindly. "I'm sorry. You would have made excellent Holy Knights, but duty calls." With that Cusack bowed low to them both before sweeping away back towards the castle, his cloak flapping behind him in the breeze.
"Why can't you just leave us alone," Zeldris fumed at his brother.
"Circumstances have changed Prince Zeldris," Ren answered softly, her tone respectful. "I need to speak to Miss Thorne alone."
"Anything you have to say to me you can say to both of us," Gelda said hotly. "There are no secrets between us."
"No, you really need to hear this on your own. It will... take some processing. I'll fill Zeldris in on the details," Meliodas said, the grin still lighting his face and Zeldris stopped suddenly. The smile actually looked genuine. "Come on, you're not in trouble. Well not much. Will you let me explain?"
"Whatever this is about I love you," Zeldris murmured, taking Gelda's hand and kissing it lightly, before allowing his brother to lead him away.
"My queen," Ren said bowing to Gelda. "I must request that you return to Edinburgh and resume your role as our monarch. Orlondi is dead and you are the heir."
"What?" Gelda cried, staring at Ren in amazement, seeing a rare smile pulling at her face and lighting her pale eyes.
"There is no doubt. I have made all the necessary enquiries. You father was our former king, Israf. Your mother and he were desperately in love and you are his child. Before he died, Israf made it so that only his flesh and blood could succeed to the throne. With Orlondi dead, you are the only surviving heir, and we want our queen on the throne. Will you come back with me, please?"
Ren looked at Gelda carefully. Her life with the vampires had not been a pleasant one and there was every chance she would refuse the request. But as she examined Gelda's expression, Ren could see the hard determination in her jaw and knew that she would not shirk her duty. She felt relief that her people would finally have a monarch they could be proud of, more than the last one at least.
"Ren, the antidote", Orlondi spluttered between trembling coughs at the official who had visited him in his chamber. His weak, pale blue eyes protruding slightly in his face as the hacking continued before dark blood bubbled up over his lips and ran down his chin. "It's a purple bottle in the cabinet."
Ren raised her eyebrows, waiting, keeping silent knowing that this would goad the king into an explanation. Minutes passed and Ren continued to stand unmoving, waiting for Orlondi to give in.
"I drank the poison by accident. Someone moved it," Orlondi whined and Ren felt her heart thump exultantly.
"Are you admitting that you killed his majesty?" Ren murmured, keeping her face neutral as she looked at Orlondi, making sure to mask her abhorrence.
"He was in my way," Orlondi moaned, gripping his nightgown round his chest as another fit of coughing consumed him. "He would not let me have her," he cried out, his coughing had abated but he was still in evident pain.
"If you mean Gelda Thorne there's a very good reason for that," Ren said smoothly, suppressing her smile. "She is your half sister."
"What?" Orlondi yelled, sitting up in the bed, glowering at Ren even through the coughs which made his body shake pitifully.
"No doubt about it. We've found letters between your father and her mother, Mary Thorne. Gelda is their child. It seems Mary and her husband were not on intimate terms when Gelda was conceived so there is no room for doubt. Some of the servants remember the couple and have corroborated this story. It was before the king met your mother", Ren explained, again making sure not to show her enjoyment.
Orlondi leaned over the side of the bed and was violently sick, a green tinge showing with the remains of the toast he had managed to consume earlier that day. The hue of the poison Ren suspected.
"I'll kill her," Orlondi snarled, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. "That will make things right. Ren, fetch me the antidote. It's the purple bottle there in the cabinet, I can see it."
Ren moved over to the other side of the room, taking the dusty bottle off the shelf. Pausing, she turned to face Orlondi then, slowly and deliberately, dropped the bottle onto the floor.
"Oops!" Ren said, finally letting her smile have full reign as the liquid spread round her feet in a puddle.
"What have you done!" yelled Orlondi. "That was my only hope!"
"An unfortunate accident," Ren murmured.
"I'll have you killed for this!" Orlondi cried, pulling on the velvet cord by his bed with urgency.
"No one will come your majesty," Ren murmured, satisfaction sounding through every word. "They believe the disease is infectious. I've offered to take on your care all by myself to save the rest of our people. They think I'm a saint."
Orlondi spluttered furiously, gulping for air as his breathing became more ragged.
"You obviously have a much weaker constitution than your father. You don't look like you have more than a few hours at best while he took weeks to die. But don't worry. I'll wait here until you draw your last breath."
"Change the succession," Orlondi rasped out. "You can do it with my authority."
"I could, but I won't. You would not pick anyone acceptable. Gelda will do just fine," Ren purred. "Don't you worry, Edinburgh will be in safe hands."
Orlondi tried to rise, stretching out his power so as to strike Ren down. The exertion was too much and with a cry of agony Orlondi lay back on the bed, anguish etched into his contorted face. Ren checked his pulse and smiled when she found nothing there before hurriedly fleeing the room to tell Meliodas the news. She would need his help fetching the new queen home.
"Ren, are you sure this is for the best?" Gelda asked quietly. "I'm not exactly their favourite person."
"They'll come round eventually. It will be hard at first and there may be some uprisings, but when they see you're competent they'll forget the past," the official reassured.
"And Zeldris? What does this mean for us? Will they accept him?"
"Oh yes, there'll be no problem there", Ren said, her pale eyes sparkling with mirth. "I've kept an ear out for rumours. They think he's exciting. And from what Meliodas tells me the demon king is now entirely in favour of your marriage.
"He'll have to leave the demon realm of course, but given you've been living here for weeks I'm going to assume that's no problem."
Gelda wondered. It was one thing giving up a throne to make an independent life for yourself but to be a mere consort? Zeldris would have to watch his tongue all the time and he'd hate that. Gelda set off towards the Palace of Versailles, Ren walking alongside her, presenting several options for securing Edinburgh's water supply which Gelda tried and failed to pay proper attention to, her mind continually wandering to how she could possibly break this news to the man she was supposed to have married later that day.
"Gelda is Israf's daughter?" Zeldris yelped, his eyes widening in shock.
"Yup!" Meliodas said, his habitual broad smile in place. "You've gone from zero to hero in record time as far as father is concerned. He was very cross indeed when you two eloped but now he's gushing about you to anyone who will listen, mostly me. A lot of guff about how you can obviously tell when someone has good breeding."
"He's such a snob," Zeldris said, huffing angrily.
"Anyway, he didn't need much talking round in the end. He's going to miss you but he's happy enough that you'll be ruling Edinburgh now Orlondi is dead. I persuaded him Estarossa will do a good enough job in the demon realm now we're both out of commission, and as you might expect Estarossa is pleased as punch."
"So what's going on with you? Why can't you take the throne?", Zeldris enquired. "I've been trying to work it out for months."
Meliodas rubbed the back of his head with his hand and Zeldris was surprised to see him looking slightly sheepish.
"Yeah, I guess I can tell you now. I'm going to live in the celestial realm. The supreme deity has agreed that I can marry her daughter, but on the condition that I join their clan. She didn't want to lose Elizabeth, and nor do I, so I'm going along with it. I'm not thrilled though. Some of the goddess clan are pretty awful, and the supreme goddess herself is an absolute harpy.
"You mustn't tell anyone I said that," Meliodas warned hotly in response to Zeldris' smirk of derision. "Just be thankful you have no in-laws to deal with."
"I can't believe you are giving up the throne for a woman!" Zeldris' sneer gradually morphed into a grin of amusement. "I don't know how many more surprises I can take today. What did father say about it?"
"He was very, very angry," Meliodas said, his tone suddenly serious. "He even talked about resuming war against the goddesses at one stage. That's why we had to keep it quiet. Elizabeth brought him round in the end. She's very persuasive. Once he met her properly he was quite taken with her, and I think he gets to name our first child or something. Definitely better than a Holy War."
"So, do we need to organise a ceremony or did you two get married already?" Meliodas enquired.
"No, we were going to have a small legal affair later today, after the investiture. Gelda wanted to make sure our incomes were secure first," Zeldris stated, his eyes suddenly weary.
"That's good. These things go down well and it will be an excellent chance for you to practice at being a diplomat."
"I don't want to take anything for granted Meliodas," Zeldris cautioned. "Now the circumstances have changed so much there's no reason why Gelda would still want me. I have to give her the chance to break off our engagement."
"What? Why on earth would you do that?" Meliodas exclaimed. "You've been pressing your claim for long enough when you knew you shouldn't, and now it's all fine you want to be careful?"
"It's not fair on Gelda. She didn't know she was going to be the vampire queen when she accepted me. She might well want someone different now. As you say, I'm not great at diplomacy and she needs someone who is," Zeldris lamented.
Part of him wished vehemently that he hadn't let her talk him into being so cautious in the first place. They could have got married at Gretna Green before going to France as he had suggested but he had reluctantly agreed with Gelda that it would be better to make sure they had enough to live on first. He knew her caution was right, but in that moment he regretted that he had not pressed the point and so remove this danger that their relationship might fall apart.
"Hey, don't worry about that, I'll coach you," Meliodas offered. "You just need to learn how to talk without really saying anything."
"I'll take you up on that if I need to. Wish me luck." With that, Zeldris set off to find Gelda, not quite remembering when he had last felt so nervous.
Gelda was sitting on a bench in the castle herb garden, thoughtfully crushing a sprig of mint between her thumb and forefinger to release the aroma. She wondered if she had made the right choice and reproached herself bitterly for being so hasty. Now she had time to reflect she had no idea if Zeldris would approve. This was so unlike her. She was usually the cautious one, but it had seemed like such a good idea that she had just gone for it.
"May I join you?" a familiar voice sounded behind her, and she turned at once, relieved to see Zeldris' gentle smile. He sat beside her, taking her hand in his and she noticed the way he bit his lip, always a sign that he was dealing with stress.
"Gelda, I won't hold you to our engagement," Zeldris murmured, forcing himself to continue. "Now that you're queen you are in a different position and I understand if you want to change you mind."
"Zeldris!" Gelda cried, pulling him towards her and crushing her lips on his. She felt his desperation as he returned her embrace, and she responded in kind, pouring all her emotion into their kiss. She tilted her head so as it give him more access, her heart filling with tenderness as he sighed softly into her mouth and she gently stroked her hand down his muscular arm. How could he ever have thought she would let him go?
Gelda reluctantly pulled away, remembering her own error of judgement. "It's you who might want to change your mind. I've done something stupid."
"Nothing you do will ever make me change my mind," Zeldris vowed as he rested his hands on her shoulders, gently massaging her upper back with his fingers. "You can tell me, I promise it won't make any difference."
"I abdicated the throne," Gelda blurted out. "I gave it to Ren and I'm really sorry. I should have asked you first."
"Why?" Zeldris asked gently, looking into her eyes and Gelda was relieved to see no anger there, only curiosity.
"The vampires would never have accepted me. And I'll never be able to enjoy the trivialities of rule. I find it impossible to take pleasure in reading submissions. Ren gave me one with some recommendations about changes that need to be made to parliamentary process. I read it four times and I still didn't care."
"A bit rash to make such a big decision based on that perhaps," Zeldris murmured soothingly. "But I dare say you can change your mind if you want to. I can help you out with that kind of thing."
"I know, because you like details. You enjoy the technical aspects of policy. I don't. It makes absolutely no sense for me to be the monarch.
"What I'm trying to say," Gelda continued shyly, her lip trembling slightly with her anxiety, "is that I thought that it would be better for us both if I joined you in the demon realm. I don't want to rule the vampires and they don't want me. I'd be happiest never going back to Edinburgh again and I don't want you to be my consort. I want to be your queen."
Zeldris looked at her in amazement as he struggled to breathe.
"Are you sure?" he asked tentatively, swallowing slightly in an attempt to keep his emotions in check. "I will do whatever you want."
"This is what I want, and it's what you want too, isn't it?" Gelda asked gently as her eyes searched his, reading the truth in the contentment she found there. She let out the breath she didn't realise she was holding as Zeldris pulled her in close, wrapping his arms around her and pressing his forehead to hers.
"More than anything," he admitted, his voice quavering as he rubbed her nose with his before tenderly capturing her lips. Gelda responded instantly, kissing him slowly and passionately, relishing the new understanding between them. They stayed locked together, their hearts full of happiness as the sun began to set over the vast expanse of the grounds at Versailles.